Looking for advice.

[icwbt]

Here's my situation. I am going to be retiring in a few years and have been a boat owner before, always gas powered engines, never diesel. Once retired, I plan on being a liveaboard, docked in Beaufort SC in the Summer and slowly making my way a little south of Jacksonville FL for the Winter months. I have estimated that my total mileage for a year will not exceed 1000 miles. In Beaufort I will be accessing shore power with the exception of a weekend or so a month out on the water with friends/family. The same holds true for the winter months in FL. I might be missing something here but does that itinerary not sound like a gasoline engine is my best bet? Diesel engines need to run longer than my itinerary allows and I don't really feel the need to just be boating for the sake of keeping the carbon cleaned out of twin diesels.

Of course, I do realize that the insurance premium will be more costly since gasoline powered boats are blowing up as often as suicide bombers in Syria these days ( making a joke ) but is the "real" cost to me going to much lower with gasoline compared to diesel?

Just looking for qualified opinions, or not qualified that just want to throw in their 2 pesos !!!!

[MBWhite]

I'd say that to me it is pretty much 6 of one, half dozen of the other. Each type has their own advantages and disadvantages. I'd look for a boat I liked and let the engine be secondary to all the other features I wanted in a liveaboard boat.

[meridian28]

Beaufort is great. We spent 4 months last year and 2 months this year and expect to spend another 2 months later this year.


If you will only do short cruising you should consider gas. Less cost than diesel and you can find gas powered boats for a lot less money. May have to go diesel if you get a trawler. Diesels don't need to be run any differently than gas..

[S/V Reveille]

Are you going to have a generator? If so, you may want to take into account the fuel your generator will be using, as to avoid having two types of fuel. In this respect, Diesel is far superior to gasoline. My two pesos...

Mark

[FamilyVan]

A thousand miles a year isn't exactly chump change. I'd want diesel for that many miles.

Sent from my XP7700 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[Lepke]

The average diesel engine needs an overhaul several times less often than a gasoline engine. Gasoline even with fuel stabilizer goes bad before diesel. A diesel will drive a hull using less fuel that the same hull with gas.
No ignition on diesels. Most diesels have less electronic controls, circuit boards, that can fail. Some none at all. My boat has 2 mains (Detroits) and 2 generators (Perkins & Cummings), all mechanical controls. I can have a complete electrical failure and the engines still run.